Donbass Arena, the stadium that suffered bombs from Russia to Ukraine in 2014
Euro 2012 was held in two countries. Poland and Ukraine built or remodelled stadiums to host Europe's most important national team competition. Two countries that share a border to the west and provided four venues each. Ukraine added the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, the Metalist Stadium (Kharkov), the Arena Lviv and the Donbass Arena in Donetsk.
It was in the easternmost stadium of the country that Spain beat France in the quarter-finals of the tournament and then Portugal on penalties to reach the final against Italy in Kiev, where they thrashed Italy 4-0 with one of the greatest displays in living memory.
The Donbass Arena opened on 29 August 2009 in Donetsk city centre, in Lenin Comsomol Park, and can hold 50,000 spectators. UEFA classified it as an Elite category stadium and it was for a time the home of Shaktar's matches.
Ukrainian tycoon Rinat Akhmetov and owner of the club declared in 2008 that the new stadium would be called Donbass Arena in homage to the region of which Donetsk is the capital. "Donbass" is the acronym for the Donets river basin (Donetskyi baséin in Ukrainian).
The area has been in a permanent state of war since 2014 due to pro-Russian movements in the area calling for annexation to the neighbouring country. These guerrillas burned down the hockey pavilion at the beginning of the confrontation.
The escalation of violence reached the Donbass Arena in August 2014 when two bombs exploded against the façade of the stadium, damaging the communications, equipment and energy control areas with the aim of rendering the stadium unusable.
Shaktar has suffered from the civil war that has raged in the east of the country since the beginning of the conflict. In July 2014, Brazilians Alex Teixeira, Fred, Douglas Costa, Dentinho, Ismaily and Ferreyra left the club and did not return from Lyon where they had just played a Champions League match against Olympique because they feared for their safety.
Shaktar left Donetsk in 2014 and until 2017 played at the Lviv Arena in Lviv, then moved to Kharkov, where they still play their matches at the Metalist stadium.
One of the most emblematic stadiums and a symbol of the recovery of Eastern European countries has been closed since 2014, as its Google profile points out, although the comments made about the facilities assure that it remains clean and well-kept, at least on the outside. Its website, too, is not in service.
Chronicles of the early stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine make Shaktar's future even more complicated because Kharkov, the country's second city, is also being bombed.
